« Reply #38 on: Sunday 11 March 18 17:05 GMT (UK) »
And it is surprising how we underestimate how people moved around. Of course not as much as today but often our ancestors did move around, they went where the work was. If you find for instance a Lancashire surname in 1700s Suffolk then it may mean they moved there. Maybe a Lancs soldier was in the army, left and settled in Suffolk, or was a fisherman on the Suffolk coast and settled there. Or they were the son or grandson/daughter of a vicar who was transferred to Suffolk.
Definitely some names give a clue - my 18th century family soldier brought a bride with a southern given name back up north with him. I'd like to extend on your thoughts coombs but this time on movement of single girls. It's on such puzzling occasions that I mentally thank my primary school teacher for persisting in teaching us youngsters how to work out and solve those awful maths "Problems". It's understandable that men moved around but how and why would a young working girl move away from home. I use the surroundings such as those described on Genuki for clues. I have one such girl married in London away from her family in Yorkshire in the late 1700s but dead before the first census. The answer was that she worked in the "big house" for the local estate owner and travelled down to London with the rest of the household whenever the master & mistress moved between their houses.On one occasion she met & married a 'servant' coachman. I've found other young girls moved away from their home town across county borders and discovered that there was usually a familial connection that caused their movement, such as an extended family member with a different surname had recommended a teaching job, or a domestic servant position.
In 1765 my ancestor William Inkpen married in Oxford city. He was a servant of St Peter In The East. Prior to 1765 there has been no known occurrence of the surname Inkpen in Oxfordshire and most were from Dorset or Sussex/Kent. He died in 1769, no age given in his burial but he was said to be "over 21" when he married in 1765. Wed by licence. Witnesses were from the wife's side. I have a feeling William was not from Oxfordshire.
In 1759 my husbandman ancestor William Balaam wed Sarah Muncaster in Weeley, Essex. Muncaster is certainly not an Essex name. it is found up North mainly. Again she could have been a servant whose boss had property in Essex and she settled there and left service once she wed.
Researching:
LONDON, Coombs, Roberts, Auber, Helsdon, Fradine, Morin, Goodacre
DORSET Coombs, Munday
NORFOLK Helsdon, Riches, Harbord, Budery
KENT Roberts, Goodacre
SUSSEX Walder, Boniface, Dinnage, Standen, Lee, Botten, Wickham, Jupp
SUFFOLK Titshall, Frost, Fairweather, Mayhew, Archer, Eade, Scarfe
DURHAM Stewart, Musgrave, Wilson, Forster
SCOTLAND Stewart in Selkirk
USA Musgrave, Saix
ESSEX Cornwell, Stock, Quilter, Lawrence, Whale, Clift
OXON Edgington, Smith, Inkpen, Snell, Batten, Brain